It has long been recognized that vocabulary mastery is directly related to educational success. Historically, student vocabulary growth has been nurtured by reading a large diet of textual works such as books and other stories. In recent years electronic innovations have made possible the use of devices to store, search and selectively retrieve textual works, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,417. These so-called electronic books have become increasingly popular with educators due in part to the ease with which they can present additional information to assist the reader in learning the meaning of a new word.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,626 an electronic teaching aid displaying text on a television screen allows the audible output and visual presentation of the dictionary definition of designated words. U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,533, a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,626, presents a more recent, microprocessor-based version of that electronic teaching aid. Both visual animation and verbal descriptions of concepts such as the principals of electronics are furnished by the electronic textbook shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,878.
Research has made clear, however, that attempting to learn the meaning of new words using dictionary-based strategies is, at least for younger readers, difficult and often unsuccessful at conveying the contextually-correct meaning of words. Such readers often find dictionary definitions confusing, in large measure because when using dictionary definitions meanings are discovered by substitution. Substitution involves taking a single word in a definition and, assuming that it is a reasonable synonym for the entire meaning of the new word, substituting it for the new word. Since many of the simple words used to define more complicated ones are polysemous, in other words have multiple meanings, the reader often accidentally and unknowingly chooses a context-inappropriate sense for the new word.
We have found that by presenting meanings in context, misunderstandings are minimized. Moreover, because of most readers' natural skill at learning from context, and with the greater concentration often given to an engaging story, presenting meanings in context yields even greater improvement in permanent vocabulary growth. Other highly desirable features of an educational device and method to enhance vocabulary growth would include mechanisms for testing the reader's understanding and monitoring vocabulary progress.